Different Faces, Different Places
by Comp Lady
Summary: Everyone knows about Tony Stark; a different conquest every night, he's not someone you settle down with, etc. Really, they're all just Loki in different guises. Because this is Tony motherfucking Stark, and he has a reputation to maintain.
1. First Meetings

The game starts at a charity event that Pepper ropes Tony into attending and no he could not bring Loki along _(Please? No. It's not like we've gone public. I said no.)_, the two of them would only cause trouble. Thus he has spent most of the night lurking around the bar and dodging reporters when _she_ corners him. Long dark brown hair and a set of curves that would put an hourglass to shame sidles up to him at the bar with a sultry smile and the dress to match.

At first Tony keeps his distance best he can because cheating on the god of mischief probably wouldn't end that well. At least until she presses up against him and those familiar sharp green eyes peer up at him and…

_'Oh. Well that changes things.'_ He thinks as he smirks down at Loki and wraps his arms around her waist.

* * *

><p>Originally posted on the norsekink meme on livejournal, dedicated to the Anon that prompted. Most of the updates will be small.<p> 


	2. Pool Party

Tony is at a pool party for some (unimportant) celebrity that has spent the better part of the last month attempting to get Tony's attention when Loki pulls out what has to be one of Tony's favorites by far.

He's lounging on a deck chair, glued to his phone, when Loki strolls up. Enough time had passed in their little game or them both to establish _just how_ Tony will be able to recognize his lover.

"Drink, Mr. Stark?" Tony glances up from his phone to find Loki's eyes staring down from a buxom redhead in a green and black bikini with bronze fastenings, a bright blue martini in one hand and a scotch in the other. What catches his eyes are the tattoos. Detailed Celtic designs that wraps around her toned torso and draw his eyes down…

Suddenly the scotch is being dangled in his face.

"See something you like?" Loki purrs, giving the glass a little shake.

With a smirk Tony takes the offered glass and shamelessly watches as Loki settles herself (himself? Tony still wasn't sure about the pronouns) on the lounge chair next to his hip and stretches out mile long legs.

Definitely his favorite.

They spent the rest of the party flirting circles around each other yet Tony hasn't had the chance to touch, Loki dipping and dodging just out of reach with the grace of a cat every time he attempts, and Loki's coy come-hither gaze isn't helping. It's late when they finally go home, slipping away and into the car amid the shutters and flashes of the paparazzi. Loki crawls in first and sprawls across the seat, legs in Tony's lap, grinning.

"So, what do you think the gossip blogs will have to say tomorrow?"

"Who cares?" The expanse of smooth, tanned skin in his lap is much more enticing and really it can never be said that Tony isn't skilled with his hands.

When they get home and stumble their way up to the bedroom Tony ties Loki's hand t the headboard with the bikini and traces every curve and line of the tattoos with his mouth. He keeps Loki's hips pinned to the bed as he does so, enjoying the way she twists and writhes against him. Loki doesn't plead or beg, not once, not even when Tony finally lets one hand dip low and the litany of curses turns into _Tony, Tony Tony, oh fuck, fuck, Tony._


	3. NAIAS

The last person that Tony expects to see at the NAIAS is Loki.

Especially considering that when Tony asked if he would come with him Loki had informed him the he had other plans at the time.

Apparently those _plans_ featured _modeling_ at the NAIAS, because Tony is currently watching Loki slink around a truly gorgeous car wearing his favorite female form. In all honesty Tony isn't sure which to pay more attention to: Lady Loki or the Maserati.

In his defense, it really was a _very_ nice car.

She had moved around the hood of the, right in front of Tony, when the photographer to Tony called out for a pose. For "something sexy".

Loki gave a winning smile and hopped up on the hood of the car, leaning back to lay across. Her smile turning into a devious smirk directed at Tony as the handful of photographers clamored for the perfect angle.

Tony was buying a new car.


	4. Twitter Interlude

redandgoldiron: MischiefKing Out of curiosity: why is JARVIS insisting on calling Clint Claire? Because I know I didn't do it

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron Just a little game JARVIS agreed to help me with

redandgoldiron: MischiefKing Ah… for any real reason?

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron Just bored. I take it Clint called you.

redandgoldiron: MischiefKing He may have called to yell at me a bit, yeah.

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron Hm, sorry about that. I'll move onto a new game and tell JARVIS to go back to calling him Clint

MishchiefKing: redandgoldiron How long are you going to be in Utah anyway? Are you sure I can't visit? Why do you have a factory there? Too damn far

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron I wonder what would happen if I gave Dummy legs….

redandgoldiron: MischiefKing It's one more day, surely you can wait

readandgoldiron: MischiefKing DO NOT

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron You're spoiling my fun

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron Should that little robot thing you were working on before leaving be moving?

readandgoldiron: MischiefKing I am not spoilgin yo What? No it should not. Why?

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron It is currently running circles around Dummy, who is trying to catch it.

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron I'm not going in the workshop.

redandgoldiron: MischiefKing Fuck, I'm on my way.

MischiefKing: redandgoldiron I think it's trying to eat Dummy's base now…

redandgoldiron: MischiefKing FUCK!


	5. Amber On Ice

Loki knew more about Midgard and its customs than he chose to let on. He wasn't an expert, even if he would only ever admit it to himself, but he was knowledgeable. He was a trickster, a word-smith; everything he did relied upon knowledge. No good prank could be pulled off without the proper knowledge, now good lie could be told without knowing the truth behind the lie. His success in his abilities relied on practice and knowledge. Much of which could be gained by pure observation. As such he was good at observing, at reading people. Thor didn't understand how he could learn so much in such a short time, and Loki had no true desire to attempt to explain it to Thor. He had tried once, when they were both young and his reputation as a prankster and trickster was beginning to cement, but Thor didn't have the patience for it and insisted that it would never be of use to him. That all he needed to triumph in battle was his strength. Loki doubted that his view-set has changed much.

Here on Midgard so much information was on hand, able to be called up on a whim. It was no wonder that he was able to learn so much in such a short amount of time.

Now he was wishing that he wasn't so good at reading people, because he could see that Tony was killing himself. Midgardians could not hold their liquor as an Asgardian could and yet sometimes it seems like Tony was drinking like one. A disconcerting notion to be sure. So he set out to find out just what this meant. Taking the laptop Tony had given him to a secluded cafe in order to do his research. A quick search on the internet (an odd name on Loki's opinion) made him wish, just a little bit, that information wasn't so readily available. 'Excessive drinking' yielded many results, none of them good, and those results led to even worse results. In the end Loki just sat back and stared at the screen, the word alcoholism glaring back at him in harsh black and white.

Did no one else know of this? How could this have passed by everyone without notice? No, Ms. Potts knew, he could see it in her face whenever she saw him drinking. So if Potts knew then it as likely that Tony's military friend knew as well, which meant that the other Avengers would likely realize what was happening if they haven't already.

If any of them noticed Loki would wager that it would be Romanov and Barton, they both knew how to find a way to see under masks. Thor probably saw nothing wrong with Tony's drinking, thinking it was the same as Asgardian drinking. Rogers might notice, but it wasn't likely, he was too easily distracted by Tony's goading. So his noticing would come later, when it might be on the verge of affecting Tony's performance in a fight, or when he decided to look past Tony's facade.

While many places suggested talking about Tony's problem or waiting until he hit what was called rock bottom to help him Loki knew that neither of those work. At least not at the moment. He had no desire to let Tony hit rock bottom and the idea of talking about it was a tedious prospect. If he was going to help Tony it was going to have to be subtle, done in a way that Tony wouldn't notice until his drinking had been cut down.

This would require planning.


	6. Hand on Heart

Once a week (usually Wednesdays but occasionally on Thursdays) Loki dons his favorite female face and spends most of the day at a tiny hole-in-the-wall coffee shop half a block from Stark Tower. A now standing practice he picked up shortly after returning to Midgard as a way to observe the Midgardians without actually having to interact with them too much. Now it's a chance for Loki to get reading done away from the Tower and the still wary eyes of it's inhabitants.

Alone time, in other words. Time that Loki carefully laid out at the beginning of this... relationship with Tony as something that should rarely, if ever, be interrupted. A small stipulation among many, but one that Tony honored nonetheless.

Which is why when Loki's phone buzzes with a text from Tony asking for her to drop what she's doing and come to the lab she is surprised more than annoyed.

The sight that greets her when she enters lab is far from what she expected though.

"Hey, let me see your hands."

Tony is currently laid back on a medical bed, shirtless, with the arc reactor held in one hand, and DUM-E and U hovering over him. There is a _hole in his chest_ where the arc reactor is supposed to be.

Her hands hang at her sides as she processes the scene. The wires, equipment, medical bed, arc reactor. Something too close to panic flutters through her before sinking into her stomach like a cold stone.

Tony clears his throat and tries to shift a bit on the bed, "um, surprise?"

"Surprise is one word for this Tony, though not the one I would use. What is this?"

"It's, uh, just some routine maintenance. Improvements on performance and connections, that stuff, souds more complicated that it is."

"So," Loki says, moving forward to come to a stop at Tony's side, "what do you need me for?"

Tony motions vaguely at the hole in his chest, "remove the old connecting wire, it's just been floating there doing nothing." He holds up a small disk, one side solid metal with a lone connector protruding out while the other side has thick braided wires inset into the face.

"Replace it with this."

Loki hums, arms crossed and hip cocked out.

"It's a newer, better, receiving node for the reactor. Should have done this a while ago but… huh. Y'know, stuff."

The machine's beeping seems to be burrowing into Loki's spine and turning to stone; so she rolls her shoulders, and sweeps her long hair into a messy pile at the back of her head. She calms the trembling in her hand and, with very little preamble, reaches into Tony's chest.

"Is that _pus_?"

Tony rolls his eyes, "No, it's not. It's a plasmic discharge from the device, not from my body."

"So it's inorganic pus."

"It— you—" Tony grimaces, "Just, you're looking for a thick wire. Technically three or four kind of wound together into one. It'll still be connected so you'll have to disconnect it before pulling it out."

Loki turns her hand, fingers splayed out, eyes staring off into a middle distance. Tony's gaze is burning into the side of her head.

"So is this the weirdest thing you've ever done?"

Laughter burst unbidden from Loki's throat.

"What's so funny?"

"Tony," she says, finding the wire and tracing along the path it makes, "my oldest child is a horse."

"Wait, what? Those myths are true?"

"How do I disconnect this, Anthony?"

Tony pouts at the use of his full name, "Turn it clockwise until it clicks. So are all of the myths true? Or is it just the one?"

"I am not getting into this discussion right now." Turn, click, the wire comes free. Loki pulls her hand out and hands the wire off to DUM-E, before taking the replacement and putting her hand back into Tony's chest.

"But we are going to have it at some point right? And it'll connect once it's plugged so don't worry about it."

Loki maneuvers the node into place, letting it go once it locks itself into place. The moment her hand is out of his chest Tony pops the arc reactor back into place and sits up.

"That wasn't that bad, was it? And about that discussion—"

"That will happen at a later date," Loki idly wipes her hands on the shirt Tony ad left discarded on a table. "I promise."

"You promise? I feel like I should make you pinky swear."

"_I promise_. Notify me the next time you need to do something like this," she says, waving her hand at the arc reactor.

Tony hums lightly, and catches her hand in his own, "I think I can do that."


End file.
